First the reaction of McHenry County Pro-Life leader Irene Napier:

Irene Napier at the annual Pro-Life Pig Roast, usually held at her farm.

Jack Roeser’s altruism can be seen in many places other than “conservative politics”!After serving his nation in World War II he put his ingenuity to work and actually became surprised at his own success.

Today there are whole blocks of buildings credited to his genius.

A banner in the great hall at Otto Engineering where thousands have been entertained pronounces: “YES I DID BUILD IT MYSELF!”.

You can be sure his accomplishments were his own.

The liberal media would steer one to the conclusion that Jack Roeser’s extraordinary generosity ended with conservative politics but there is no shortage of evidence of the opposite.

From his benevolence – and that of his son, Tom Roeser, — the façade of a great part of Carpentersville has been modernized and refurbished.

Occasionally he was heard to say he wanted to “die broke”.

Agreeing with Napier is Capitol Fax commenter “Frank Zappa is a genius”:

Having worked at statewide levels of Dem. politics in Illinois I blindly thought before meeting Jack based on the media that he was a caricature of all that I disliked about Republicans.

Based on getting to know him in person I found him to be an incredibly generous and kind servant of a man.

He personally underwrote the operating budget of a majority African American catholic grammar school in Chicago for over a decade costing him many many millions over the years without putting out press releases about it.

I have spent time at his Otto facility with him.

90 percent of his philanthropy he didn’t put out press releases on.

Much of it to rebuild Carpentersville at no profit to him.

Being a Dem in those circles I rarely met his philanthropic equal on the Dem side.

Don’t judge a book by its cover holds true.

Political labels like sexual labels and race labels are stupid.

What is the character of the individual heart is what matters in our brief lives.

God bless Jack Roeser.

And the obituary:

BARRINGTON – Jack Roeser, age 90, passed away on Friday.

Jack was the youngest son of Irene and Otto Roeser.

He was born in Chicago in 1923.

He lived the “American Dream.”

As a young boy he designed free flight airplanes winning national championships.

These experiences inspired him to become an engineer.

He enlisted in the Army in 1942 and served as a Combat Engineer in the Philippines and was among the first soldiers to enter Japan after their surrender.

Returning from the war he received a Mechanical Engineering Degree from the University of Illinois.

Jack Roeser

Being an engineer’s engineer he successfully founded three companies, the most recent OTTO Engineering, which he founded in his basement and has grown to 500 employees.

He had always been active in American causes espousing the principles of freedom of the individual and small, moral government.

He was an advocate for education reform believing that our public school system was destroying core values and not providing the skills children need to be moral and educated members of our American society.

In 1994 he ran for the Republican nomination for Governor of Illinois and continued to further his political ideals through his political action committees

• El Suenyo
• The Family Taxpayer’s Network and
• Champion News

He was the most consistent adherent to the conservative principles of American self government.

Asked once how he wanted to be remembered he said,

• “citizen
• “soldier and
• “father”

He is survived by his wife, Jeannine, his three sons, Ron (Sue), Tom (Bette), Otto (Min) and his daughter, Jean (Rob) Runnfeldt and several grandchildren.  In addition to his parents, Jack was preceded in death by his sisters Eileen and Ethel and his brothers, Bob and Howard.

Family and Friends will gather for a Funeral Mass and Military Honors on Tuesday, at 10:00 A.M. at the St. Catherine of Siena Church, West Dundee. Private family burial will follow in the St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery, River Grove.

Visitation will be on Monday, at OTTO Engineering, 100 S. Lincoln Ave., Carpentersville form 3:00 PM – 8:00 PM and again on Tuesday morning at St. Catherine of Siena Church, West Dundee from 9:00 A.M. until the time of the Mass.

Please omit flowers, memorials are encouraged to either the Boys & Girls Club of Dundee Township, P.O.Box 173, Carpentersville, IL 60110 or the St. Elizabeth Parochial Catholic School, 4052 S. Wabash, Chicago, IL 60653. The Miller Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements. To leave an online condolence please click www.millerfuneralhomedundee.com”>here. For info, please call 847-426-3436. – See more here.